Meta Executives Face $8 Billion Trial Over Facebook's Data Harvesting
Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives face an $8 billion trial this week, accused by shareholders of running Facebook as an illegal operation and harvesting user data without consent. The trial will delve into board meetings and the implementation of a 2012 FTC agreement, with Zuckerberg expected to testify.
The lawsuit, brought by pension funds and other shareholders, alleges that Facebook continued deceptive privacy practices after the 2012 agreement. Plaintiffs claim that Zuckerberg and other defendants, including Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and Reed Hastings, knowingly caused the company to violate the law. The trial will focus on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where user data was harvested without consent.
Plaintiffs seek to recover over $8 billion in fines and costs paid by Meta after the scandal. To win, they must prove the directors' failure in their duty of oversight, a challenging claim in corporate law. The available search results do not provide specific information about the plaintiffs or the pension funds involved in the lawsuit.
The trial, expected to last several weeks, will explore the college board's role in Facebook's data protection practices. If found liable, Zuckerberg and other defendants could face significant financial penalties. The outcome may set a precedent for corporate accountability in data privacy.
